


answers and acceptance

by ayykaashi



Series: AkaKuro Week 2017 [6]
Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: AkaKuro Week 2017, Akakuro - Freeform, M/M, alcohol is involved but not too explicitly, kind of a sequel to the fic before this but also a stand alone
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-16
Updated: 2017-04-16
Packaged: 2018-10-19 14:21:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,502
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10641654
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ayykaashi/pseuds/ayykaashi
Summary: In their last year of high school, Kise decided to hold a gathering between the Generation of Miracles. Things get a little out of hand, and Akashi finally comes to terms with two things: his feelings about Kuroko, and the fact Kuroko is more dangerous than he is. || DAY 6: temptation + wayward + noise + "here we go again"kind of a sequel tocuriosity and comfortbut can also be read alone! also, please read the note at the start!





	

**Author's Note:**

> i really liked C&C i think it's my fave thing ive written for knb so far!! i left it open ended bcs i didn't rly know how to end it, but i felt like i should at least try to tie up at least a few loose ends.
> 
> NOTE: akashi is a bit out of character (OOC) here, and so is Kuroko to an extent. keep in mind this is a bit into the future, so i image that high school has changed them a bit, especially after seirin's win in their first year. not to mention, alcohol and feelings are involved, so i find it natural that maybe (just maybe) they won't be acting like their normal selves all the time.
> 
> that's all! i hope everyone enjoys this c:

High school days came and went, and now it was the Miracles’ year. Graduation was upon all of them and Kise had the glorious idea of a meet up between all of them before they really go their separate ways. Their meet-up was held in a condominium unit he owned that he stayed in for modelling gigs, and so it was private and really just for them. They divided things to bring and do among them, and decided to have the party a week before all their graduations.

The party came soon enough. It was held at night so everyone had time to go and even sleepover. Midorima brought rice and viands for all, while Murasakibara brought desserts and the like. Aomine and Momoi came together with disks of their old matches and movies that they could all watch together, along with some pillows for the sleepover. Kuroko came with blankets for them all and some egg dishes, and Akashi came with, surprisingly enough, drinks both non-alcoholic and alcoholic. However, majority of the alcoholic drinks came from the host of the party, Kise, who also rented a karaoke machine for all of them.

This is where things go down the story begins.

 

* * *

 

“Akaaaaaashi!” Aomine slammed down his glass of beer, forcing the mic to his old captain. “Why don’t you siiiing?”

“Because he doesn’t want to, duh. Stop that,” Murasakibara grumbled, his rice flying everywhere as he spoke, “Besides, why are you even drinking so early, Mine-chin? Eat first.”

Midorima sighed. “It’s because he’s an idiot, Murasakibara, and idiots never think about the consequences of their actions. They just want to do and do and do.” He scoffed, holing his silver chopsticks—the lucky item for the day—close to his mouth with a piece of meat. “It’ll be his fault if he gets a hangover or gets wasted first.”

Momoi laughed sheepishly. “Is…Is nobody going to talk about how we somehow have hard alcohol…despite being minors?”

“I have my ways, Momoi,” Akashi smiled, pushing the mic away from his face, “And so does Kise. We just want to make this party something to remember.”

Midorima scoffed again. “If we don’t get drunk, that is.”

Kise wrapped an arm around both Momoi and Midorima and smile. “Now, now, now! Let’s not get worked up about the big things! Tonight’s our big night together, and I want us to spend it happy and positive!”

That seemed to ease Momoi’s worries a bit as she sparkled and nodded. “That’s right, Ki-chan!”

The green haired shooter wriggled himself out of the two balls of sunshine and scooted closer to Kuroko. “How do you deal with either or both of them?”

Kuroko calmly sipped his vanilla milkshake—courtesy of Murasakibara, bless him—as he stared at him. He shrugged. “Practice and patience, I guess?”

Midorima let out a grimace. “Such a saint. Jesus.”

From in front of them, Akashi gave them a side glance and sighed.

Once upon a time, Kuroko and Akashi were close friends. They helped each other discover their true selves—their sexualities and preferences, rather, and shared a mutual understanding of sorts. They had small dates that took place after practice, dates that ranged from small burger joint dates to library dates. They talked about their likes and dislikes and opened up to each other about anything that they could think of. With the understanding they shared, many thought that maybe, they would go past that and become an official item.

That was _before_.

Two years have passed since then. Just when people thought they would go farther— _oh but they’ve gone pretty far already_ —than their mutual understanding, second year of middle school happened and Akashi changed. The change in him threw Kuroko off balance, and their trust in each other was broken due to the new Akashi’s acts and words. They never became official. Akashi strayed the path, grew wayward until he lost of sight of Kuroko forever.

Fast forward to their high school days, their first year. Seirin has come out on top of Rakuzan, and Akashi has gone back to his normal self. However, that does not necessarily mean that everything was back to what it once was. The possible feelings that were beginning to grow in middle school seem to be gone or if not then dormant, and there was not enough time for the two to actually talk about the elephant in the room properly. They did, however, begin texting to reconnect, and while they could not meet up in real life, their texts were the closest they could get and it was enough for now.

But still. It wasn’t the same.

Seeing Kuroko interact with their other teammates made his chest feel heavy and empty all at once, and he wanted to talk to him. But…but seeing Kuroko with the others, happy to have finally got all of them to their senses, he didn’t want to simply barge his way in.

He wasn’t sure if Kuroko still had a thing for him. Hell, he was even unsure if their feelings for each other were real and he was just imagining it because he was so damned happy.

It was a rough start for them both, with them only developing feelings after all they’ve done. It was rough, but Akashi liked it. The dates, the small kisses, and the intimate moments between them during the silence, he loved it all and held it all close to him.

Recently, after getting back his normal senses, he began to think more about his relationship with the phantom. He wondered if what they had was real, if he was the only one imagining it or if this was only just a product of their curiosity leading to strange form of attachment. He thought about pursuing what they once had to the current times, about the pros and cons of it all.

The more he thought about it, the more his emotions fucked him up and the more he just wanted to _talk to Kuroko._

Sometimes, he wished he was back in middle school with Kuroko. At least then, he and Kuroko would be on better terms, regardless of whether they did what they did or not. Maybe he would have never changed, and maybe they would have real feelings for each other and things would have gone a lot better.

“Akashi-kun?”

He continued to stare at the shadow and the rest, and he felt a cynical smile come up. Well, at least even with all that went wrong, Kuroko was happy. That seemed to be enough right now.

“Akashi-kun?”

Mindlessly, Akashi reached for a glass by the side and took a gulp. Hm, this water tasted slightly weird. He licked his lips. Maybe another glass?

Huh. Still weird.

Again, he took another glass. This time, the taste was amplified, and it was accompanied with a strange burn—

_Not water._

Akashi choked and sprayed out what he drank. That caused a chain reaction.

Apparently, during his moment of thought, Aomine has somehow tricked Murasakibara into eating some gummy bears he laced beforehand, and drinking a glass of water mixed with some alcohol. Murasakibara, not wanting to suffer alone, conspired with Aomine to make a rum coke with more coke than usual to give to Midorima. Midorima was apparently a lightweight, and apparently the sake Akashi sprayed out managed to enter Midorima’s area and some landed in his mouth and some in his nose. Midorima choked on air and his nostrils flared, causing Aomine to laugh and hit Murasakibara on his back as he did so. Momoi, the only sober friend so far, was holding back a tipsy Kise (who was probably drinking with Aomine earlier, if Akashi was right) from running over to the table.

Akashi tried to get his bearings back, and started slamming the table. “W-Water—“

“Here.”

He looked to his side and found a glass with water pressed to his cheek. He gave a tired smile. “Kuroko. Thanks.”

Quite hurriedly, Akashi drank the water. There was still a taste, but it was most likely due to earlier. Alcohol doesn’t get washed away so easily after all.

From his side, he heard a chuckle. “I never knew you to dislike alcohol, Akashi-kun,” Kuroko chimed in, “I was trying to warn you that Aomine-kun and Kise-kun have been spiking drinks since earlier, but you seemed in deep thought so I left.”

“Ah, I apologize for that,” Akashi gave a quick bow, “But also, thank you for the water.”

“It was nothing. Just helping out a friend.”

Akashi immediately beat down the voice in his head that whispered, _‘Friend? We’re still friends even after everything?’_

“So Kuroko, how have you been?” Akashi asked, trying to start some conversation. He wanted to talk to Kuroko, and it seemed like now will be his only chance when the rest of the Miracles are causing havoc on the other side. “It feels quite refreshing to finally have a real conversation with you again.”

“I’ve been well, thank you,” Kuroko smiled, “And yes, I agree, it feels quite refreshing indeed. How have you been, Akashi-kun?”

 _‘In deep thought. About you. About us.’_  “I’ve been fine, thank you. I’m quite excited and saddened to graduate, like everyone else.”

“Ah, likewise actually. Graduation brings many different feelings with it, doesn’t it?”

“Mhm.” Akashi couldn’t reply. He felt his throat was getting warm and dry, and had the urge to scratch it.

It must have been all over him because out of nowhere, Kuroko produced a glass of water for him. Akashi gave him a smile and took the glass with a nod. Kuroko spoke, “Graduation of middle school is small compared to high school. It’s something close to the end of a novel, really, with how high school leads straight into college.”

“That’s true, it does feel quite heavy.” Kuroko was talking a lot. Was he also drinking? Was he already drunk? Akashi took a gulp of his water once more and yet, he still felt parched. Kuroko passed him another glass, but this time of a clear carbonated drink.

Kuroko gave him an apologetic look. “No more water, sorry about that, just this.” He smiled. “Don’t worry, it’s not laced.”

Akashi shrugged and chugged it all down. The coolness was refreshing, yet the burn remained. “Thank you again.”

“No problem.”

Akashi had nothing left to say, even if he wanted to talk some more. Memories of Teiko were slowly flooding in at Kuroko’s words, and he let out a soft sigh. Kuroko had a point; high school graduation was something else entirely. College was something big for all of them, and a big reason why this party was being held was because they all knew maintaining friendships would be harder later on.

Murasakibara was aiming to study abroad for culinary expertise, and Midorima will be in Japan for a few more years until he goes to expand on medicine abroad. Akashi himself might go abroad too if the need calls for it, considering the line of business he is to be in.

Graduation was near, and Akashi knows this and yet he still can’t seem to talk to Kuroko about what they really are.

He stared at the glasses he had drank from as he thought, but he must have stared for too long because now the glasses were starting lose focus in his mind. He blinked to regain focus—okay, that was slightly better, but now his head was starting to throb.

Suddenly, the noise behind them got louder and he saw Kuroko stand up. “Would you like to stay at the balcony with me?”

Akashi nodded and stood up as well. He let Kuroko lead the way to the balcony, and for some reason, he felt annoyed that the other has been coming here every other week to catch up with the team’s blondie. Once they reached the balcony, Kuroko let Akashi go in first before locking the sliding doors behind him. Akashi sat down on a lounge chair, and Kuroko plopped right down beside him.

The night was beautiful, Akashi noticed. There was a half-moon above all the city towers, and there were stars flickering in the distance. He could faintly see a plane or a jet in the air with its flickering lights gliding between the stars. The lights from some towers added an illuminating glow to the entire scene, along with the row of plants that decorated the balcony’s fence.

He had no fear of heights, but staring into the distance seemed to take a toll on his head. He leaned back on his chair and sighed. Silence sat between them before Akashi finally put the pieces together. “You’re very good at mixing drinks, Kuroko.”

Said man chuckled. “Thank you, I was afraid you’d never notice.”

“I only noticed because my tolerance is not as high as everyone thinks,” Akashi chuckled dryly, “My head is beginning to throb and things are beginning to spin. That’s how I noticed something was off.” He smirked. “Did Aomine and Kise set you up for this task?”

Kuroko readjusted his legs. “No, I did this on my own accord,” he said, “So I can get you to be as honest as possible right now.”

Akashi raised a brow, but had a feeling on what the other wanted to talk about. “Oh? About what?”

 The other shifted to look at him, and Akashi stared back. “Don’t play innocent with me, Akashi-kun,” Kuroko called out sternly, “I think this has been a talk long overdue.”

Red eyes were focused on the person in front, but Akashi’s mind was starting to get muddled up. However, somehow it still works. He sighed. “I suppose it is.”

Kuroko hummed. “So…how do you feel about me now?”

“Confused,” Akashi replied a bit too fast, “I’m confused about you.”

That seemed to have caught Kuroko off-guard. “You? Confused?”

Akashi nodded. His mind was sending warning signals to his mouth right now, but his mouth seemed to have a mind of its own. “Yes. I’ve been thinking about my feelings for you and about us. I’ve been confused.”

“What…what have you thought about exactly?”

Shit. His head was starting to spin for real. He leaned back some more, forcing his head to face up. “I thought about if my feelings for you were real, if they were brought about by mere physical need and desire.” Akashi hummed. “Although, I’m understanding now that it is real. It might have come from a physical attraction, but I can…feel that it is more than that now.” Kuroko was silent, and Akashi felt that it was because of what he said. He took a few breaths to try and calm his mouth down, but his mouth seemed to refuse. “This is quite embarrassing, but Kuroko, I miss you.” He gave a mirthless chuckle at his own words. “I miss you, us, and what could have been.”

Again, Kuroko had nothing to say.

Akashi took that as a sign to talk more though for some reason.

“Oi, Kuroko, do you think maybe, we could have gone past the stage of two people with just an understanding? Do you think maybe, we could have been lovers with a label and tag?” Akashi looked up, focusing on the moon as best as he can. While his mind was berating him for speaking so carelessly, he could feel his chest feeling less and less burdensome. “It feels so foreign yet familiar to me to feel all these, especially how I seem to be overthinking all these. I never really overthink, which makes this harder and weirder than I thought.” He sighed and turned his head to the side to look at the other. “I apologize if this is too—”

Akashi’s eyes widened at the sight in front of him.

Blue eyes were wide in a way that was familiar to Akashi, and the same could be said for the pink dusting his cheeks— _memories of the locker room came flooding in and stop it Seijuuro_. Akashi could tell he was embarrassed and surprised, and the light of the stars, moon and buildings from afar just made his expression more _amazing_ and _alluring_ in his eyes. 

Even so, he couldn’t seem to grasp why he was looking like so.

“Kuroko?”

“I—I apologize, please give me some time to compose myself and think.” Kuroko turned away from him, and Akashi felt a strange sense of satisfaction in seeing the reddening ears. Huh. How did he never noticed that little trait of him before?

However, even from the side, Akashi could see most of Kuroko’s face if he bent forward. Red eyes hyper-focused on the lower half of the pale teen’s face, watching him nibble his lower lip—a sign of nervousness that he picked up one time in one of their dates. It was something small, but cute.

Like his lips. Cute.

Kind of a pale pink, not really standing out much like his eyes.

Still very cute though, and tempting too.

Akashi’s brain short-circuited for a few seconds while his mouth kept at it. “Can I kiss you?”

“Excuse me?” Kuroko replied immediately, head turning fast to face him.

“Can I kiss you, Kuroko?” Akashi asked, this time sounding surer, “Regardless of whether you have any feelings for me or not, I would very much like to have one more chance to taste heaven.”

“…Akashi-kun, what did you just say?”

“Your lips are very inviting, very tempting.” For some reason unknown to Kuroko, Akashi’s voice seemed to drown out the noise in the room but not the noise in his vibrating eardrums. “And I…I’m a wayward man who lost his way. I don’t need much, but maybe a chance will do.”

Kuroko stared at Akashi for some time, sucking his lips as he did so. He failed to notice the way Akashi’s eyes just followed that action. “Why are you assuming that I don’t want to have anything to do with you? Why are you not hearing me out, Akashi-kun?”

“Because I know and don’t know.”

“A tipsy Akashi-kun is very troublesome.” Kuroko sighed. “Akashi-kun, please listen closely.” He took a deep breath. “I am not very sure of my feelings either. I believe we have been having the same thoughts and feelings. I do not know where we stand right now, but I do know I hold a feeling of affection for you stronger than I hold for most people.” Shyly, he reached out for Akashi’s hand and gave it a squeeze. “I miss you as well, Akashi-kun, and what we could have been. But this is the future, this is _now_ , and I don’t really know what we could be from now on.”

Akashi blinked, and squeezed back. “We can be lovers.”

Kuroko stared at him. “Do you really think we can pull off being lovers, given our possible futures are very different from each other?”

The redhead nodded. His chest felt so _light_ right now, and he could feel a surge of calmness and excitement rush through him. “I want us to pull it off, and if it’s with you, I believe we can.”

Blue eyes flashed a myriad of emotions that Akashi failed to keep up with. Kuroko sighed and released Akashi’s hand. He stood up and held his chair. Surprising Akashi, he lifted the chair and set it down closer to Akashi’s. Then, Kuroko sat back down, and gave him a serious look. “Fine. We can try again.”

Akashi blinked owlishly at him, and Kuroko found it adorable— _stop_. “Can we really?”

Slowly, Kuroko nodded. “We can try, yes.”

“Does this mean I can kiss you?”

“Just kiss.”

“That’s more than enough for me right now.”

Akashi, with his slightly hazy mind, moved the chair to be closer to Kuroko. He held his hand and with his other hand, he held Kuroko’s face in a gentle hold. Again, memories of Teiko came in and he felt nostalgia and joy come in his chest. He chuckled and Kuroko raised a brow. “Here we go again,” Akashi remarked.

Kuroko sighed, but placed a hand on Akashi’s face as well, his other hand squeezing the hand in its hold. “Here we go again, indeed,” he gave a small smile, “Now, hurry up before I Ignite Pass this face of yours and take back what I said, and even tell everyone about tipsy Akashi-kun.”

The redhead let out another chuckle. He moved his head closer, and right above Kuroko’s lips, he whispered against his breath, “Thank you, _Tetsu—_ Kuroko.” _‘Small steps, Seijuuro. Small steps.’_

_‘Look, Tetsuya is smiling so nicely at us. Small steps. It’ll be okay.’_

At that moment, all memories of Teiko faded to a soft buzzing sound in his head, being overwritten by the moment at hand.

(In the end, Kuroko _did_ Ignite Pass his gut, but _did not_ tell anyone about his tipsy self. Well, he deserved that.)

**Author's Note:**

> HAPPY EASTER AND THANK YOU FOR READING!! i hope yall have a great day today <3  
> hmu on tumblr + twit @ ayykaashi


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